While artificial intelligence (AI) is now a common denominator across workspaces, a majority of organisations in Southeast Asia still lag in harnessing its full potential. In 2024, HR leaders will need to start taking their rightful seat at the table in order to help organisations decide on the right AI technology to maximise its transformative benefits.
Most IT purchase decisions, AI included, boil down to a few major factors: cost, value, as well as data security and privacy. Business leaders need to evaluate not only the costs of the tool itself, but also peripheral costs. This can include licences, add-ons like cloud storage or premier support, as well as maintenance and upkeep of the technology to support expanding business needs. The next factor, and perhaps the most important, is the value these new AI tools can bring to the organisation. Considerations could include whether the new tool is able to help the business drive revenue, enhance operations, or support productivity and collaboration between dispersed teams. Above all, these tools must be compliant with the company’s security guidelines and not compromise data privacy. Leaders must then deliberate if the benefits of onboarding the new technology outweigh the total cost of ownership.
This is where HR leaders play an increasingly critical role in the AI decision-making process. With their expertise in managing talent and understanding of organisational dynamics, they are well-positioned to help assess how any new AI solutions will impact the workforce. More is not always better, and HR can help business leaders identify priority areas where AI adoption is most critical for employees’ development and overall business outcomes while prioritising data privacy and security.
For example, AI could improve productivity and collaboration by taking repetitive tasks, such as note-taking and summarising meetings, off employees’ plates. A survey Zoom recently commissioned with Morning Consult revealed that globally, 73% of leaders and 55% of employees reported spending at least a few times a week sharing notes and action items with colleagues. This is time that could have been better utilised on more impactful activities like creative ideation or decision-making that result in meaningful business impact. Data from the Morning Consult survey tells the same story in Southeast Asia. When Singapore employees and leaders were asked to identify which benefits of using AI at work were the most helpful, top responses were related to saving time — either reducing the number of repetitive tasks, completing work faster, or using that time for something else.
Meanwhile, conversational intelligence capabilities could empower teams with the insights needed to improve their skills and performance, leading to better customer experience and revenue outcomes in the long run. AI can also offer automated transcription and translation capabilities to build an inclusive working environment for teams speaking different languages.
While it could be overwhelming for teams to decide how and where AI best fits into their workflows for maximum impact, alongside all of their day-to-day tasks, HR as a business function has a bird’s eye view of the entire organisation and workforce. This means they are able to help ensure that any new AI solution is able to equally benefit every employee, enhance employee experience, and ultimately align with the organisation’s overall strategy. HR is also a critical function when it comes to enabling implementation and to helping employees to seamlessly integrate AI into their day-to-day workflows. As it stands, only 5% of organisations in Asia are providing training to staff on AI. Yet, the same Morning Consult survey found that 70% of Asia-Pacific leaders surveyed said that a key barrier to adoption of AI in their organisations was that their teams would not know how to use it.
This is a gap HR can strive to fill, such as through training and education initiatives that show employees exactly how AI can help automate or enhance certain parts of their job. Effective AI implementation starts from evaluation and ends with training and onboarding of employees.
Moving forward into 2024, HR leaders will need to assume a more significant role across the implementation process to ensure that their organisations are indeed investing in the right technology that can unlock AI’s true business value.
About the author
Gina Kuek leads Zoom’s HR and people experience for the Asia-Pacific region.
Bringing her extensive experience in the people business to Zoom, Kuek drives transformational HR strategies for the region. She is responsible for maintaining the happiness of employe HR processes and programmes across the organisation.
She actively spearheads initiatives around organisational and leadership effectiveness, with the mission to cultivate Zoom’s culture of delivering happiness and care across the company.
Kuek previously worked at OutSystems as a Director of People Success, and helmed roles in multinationals including Uber, Tableau, and Frost & Sullivan. In these roles, Gina engaged and partnered with key business executives in Asia to develop HR strategies and accomplish organisational goals.
Kuek holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, HR Management, and Industrial Relations from Curtin University.
